Phone Shows Apple's Impact on Consumer Products — Apple's new iPhone appears to be the clearest statement yet of what Steve Jobs's impact has been on consumer electronics. — It is not that he invents new technologies. He refines existing ones. — Mr. Jobs himself acknowledged …

SAP Warns, Sending Shockwaves Through Enterprise Software — Eric Savitz (Barron's) submits: Bad news for the enterprise software sector this afternoon, as SAP (SAP) just warned that fourth quarter software revenue growth came in short of previous guidance. This is a bit confusing, so bear with me.

Does The iPhone Need Patents? — from the questions,-questions dept — A bunch of folks have noted that Steve Jobs seemed mighty excited about the 200 or so patents Apple has filed around some of the technology involved in the iPhone (or whatever it's going to be called).

SUBSCRIBERS WORLDWIDE — Player population in North America now exceeds 2 million, while Europe and China pass the 1.5 million player and 3.5 million player marks, respectively — Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that World of Warcraft®, its subscription-based massively …

GOOGLE: What if Google looked like Yahoo? — What if Google looked like Yahoo? — Google has a great virtue. It allows engineers to waste their time on hobby projects, and acquires irrelevant companies on a whim, but the front page has remained remarkably focused on search, and free of encrustation.

Gates: PS3 will never have graphics advantage — Speaking with journalist and Xbox guru, Dean Takahashi, Bill Gates offered several jabs to both Sony and Nintendo in the wake of CES. Speaking on Nintendo, Gates expressed concern that the novelty of Wii could wear off without good graphics to go with it …

Taming Mac OS X File Systems — Google is a fantastic company to work for. I could cite numerous reasons why. Take the concept of "20 percent time." Google engineers are encouraged to spend 20 percent of their time pursuing projects they're passionate about.

MPAA Caught Uploading Fake Torrents — It is no secret that the MPAA and other anti-piracy organizations track down alleged pirates by uploading fake torrents. Up until now it was always unclear where those files came from, and how to identify them. — The MPAA and other anti-piracy watchdogs try …

eBay to buy ticketer StubHub for $310 million — SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Online auctioneer eBay Inc. <EBAY.O> has agreed to buy sports ticket reseller StubHub for $310 million in cash, the companies said on Wednesday, confirming an earlier report the deal was imminent.

Senator to FCC: Don't even think about a broadcast flag — Senator John Sununu (R-NH) has just announced that his office is working on legislation that would prevent the FCC from creating specific technology mandates that have to be followed by consumer electronics manufacturers. What's his target?

Breaking: MTV in Talks with Ziff Davis — 1UP.com may soon join GameTrailers as part of MTV Networks. A well-placed source informed GameDaily BIZ that MTV Networks and Ziff Davis Media are currently negotiating a deal. More within... At the end of December, the always interesting PaidContent.org

'Craplets' could damage Vista launch: Microsoft exec — A senior Microsoft Corp. executive says the company is concerned that uncertified third-party software loaded onto new computers by manufacturers could hurt the launch of consumer versions of its Windows Vista operating system later this month.

Picasa referrals roll into Google Pack — In the next few days you may notice a change to our Picasa referrals program. With the recent international launch of Google Pack referrals, we'll soon be consolidating Picasa and Pack referrals into a single program.

Apple Chief Benefited From Options, Records Indicate — Apple Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs confirmed his place this week as the premier impresario of the Internet age, taking the stage in San Francisco to unveil a smart phone that won a raucous endorsement from thousands of fans in the audience …